MLB Power Rankings - Major League Baseball

Power Rankings: Yankees remain in top spot

Week:

ESPN.com

The New York Yankees finished up a 10-game road trip by going 7-3 to open up their lead to 7½ games over the Boston Red Sox in the American League East. And as a result, the Yanks hold onto the No. 1 spot in the MLB Power Rankings.

The Los Angeles Angels remain in the No. 2 spot, followed by the Philadelphia Phillies, who jumped three spots in the rankings.

The Los Angeles Dodgers drop one spot to fourth, followed by the Red Sox. The Phillies, who have won six of their last seven games, are the U.S. Army Team of the Week.

Meanwhile, the Washington Nationals (No. 30) and Kansas City Royals (No. 29) occupy the two bottom spots in the rankings.

One of our panelists, Enrique Rojas of ESPNDeportes.com, wrote the comments below. Meanwhile, you can rank the teams yourself.

Tune in to "Baseball Tonight" every Monday on ESPN to see the week's U.S. Army Power Rankings.

2009 Power Rankings: August 24
	RK (LW)	TEAM	REC	COMMENT
	1 (1)	Yankees	78-46	The Yankees lead the majors with 191 homers and have hit at least one homer in 98 of their 124 games.
	2 (2)	Angels	74-48	Except for second baseman Howie Kendrick (.274), the entire Angels lineup is batting better than .290.
	3 (6)	Phillies	71-50	The Phillies have won 10 of their past 12 games to open up their lead in the NL East.
	4 (3)	Dodgers	74-51	Dodgers cleanup hitters have hit only nine home runs, the fewest among the 30 big league teams.
	5 (7)	Red Sox	70-53	Josh Beckett has allowed 15 earned runs in 13 1/3 innings pitched in his past two outings.
	6 (5)	Cardinals	72-54	Chris Carpenter (14-3, 2.16) is 9-0 in his past 10 starts.
$Texas Rangers$	7 (4)	Rangers	69-54	Scott Feldman (13-4) has been a warrior on the road with a 9-1 record.
	8 (8)	Rockies	70-54	Jorge De La Rosa (12-8, 4.76) has won 10 of his past 11 decisions.
	9 (9)	Rays	67-56	Carlos Pena, who is batting .220, has 34 homers and 35 singles this season.
	10 (13)	Braves	66-58	Tommy Hanson (9-2, 3.12 ERA) has the numbers to become the first Braves pitcher to win the NL Rookie of the Year Award.
	11 (11)	Giants	67-57	Tim Lincecum is winless in his past four starts.
	12 (10)	Tigers	65-58	The Tigers have lost 15 of their past 23 road games.
	13 (12)	Marlins	65-59	Hanley Ramirez has gotten a hit in 16 of his past 17 games, raising his batting average to .361, best in the National League.
	14 (15)	White Sox	63-61	The White Sox have scored five or fewer runs in 28 of their past 35 games.
	15 (14)	Cubs	62-60	The Cubs have lost 10 of their past 14 games to fade away from the NL Central race.
	16 (16)	Mariners	63-61	The Mariners have lost 7 of their past 10 games.
	17 (18)	Twins	61-63	The Twins have four players with 20 home runs (Justin Morneau, Joe Mauer, Jason Kubel and Michael Cuddyer) for the first time since 1987.
	18 (19)	Astros	61-63	The Astros remain third in the NL Central despite playing .500 (5-5) in their past 10 games.
	19 (17)	Brewers	60-63	Manny Parra has allowed more than five earned runs in nine of his 22 starts.
	20 (20)	Blue Jays	57-65	Toronto has a 10-17 record since July 23.
	21 (21)	Mets	57-67	Oliver Perez has allowed 10 earned runs in his past two starts (5 2/3 innings pitched).
	22 (23)	Indians	54-69	Fausto Carmona has allowed three or fewer runs in each of his five starts since returning from the minor leagues on July 31.
	23 (24)	Athletics	55-68	After having a losing record in each of the first four months of the season, the A's are 11-10 in August.
	24 (22)	Diamondbacks	55-70	Before winning Sunday, the Diamondbacks had lost seven straight games, during which time they scored a total of 14 runs.
	25 (28)	Pirates	51-71	With their loss on Sunday, the Pirates failed in their quest to extend their winning streak to six games. The last time Pittsburgh had a six-game winning streak was in May of last season.
	26 (25)	Reds	52-71	The Reds have lost 24 of their past 32 games to spiral toward the NL Central basement.
	27 (26)	Orioles	51-73	The Orioles have won 11 of 36 games in the second half.
	28 (27)	Padres	52-74	The Padres have lost eight of their past 11 games.
	29 (30)	Royals	47-76	The Royals have lost seven of their past nine games.
	30 (29)	Nationals	44-80	Ryan Zimmerman has already established a career high with 26 home runs.